Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Legislation Amendment Act 1994 (Cth)
PART 1—PRELIMINARY
Section
1. Short title
2. Commencement
PART 2—AMENDMENT OF THE SUPERANNUATION INDUSTRY (SUPERVISION) ACT 1993
3. Principal Act
4. Object
5. Definitions
6. Application
TABLE OF PROVISIONS—
Section
7. Objects
8. Definitions
9. Meaning of “in-house asset”
10. Object
11. Definitions
12. Object
13. Definitions
14. Object
15. Definitions
16. Application
17. Object
18. Trustee must not issue interests, or permit persons to become standard employer-sponsors, except pursuant to applications
19. Object
20. Investments of superannuation entity to be made on arm’s length basis
21. Object
22. What happens if benefits are below minimum amount
23. Object
24. Trustee not to be subject to direction
25. Exercise of discretion by person other than trustee
26. Object
27. Acquisitions of certain assets from members of regulated superannuation funds prohibited
28. Object
TABLE OF PROVISIONS—
Section
29. Pre-1 July 1995 rules—funds with 200 or more members
30. Post-30 June 1995 rules—funds with more than 4, but fewer than 50, members
31. Post-30 June 1995 rules—funds with more than 49 members
32. Object
33. Existing trustee may give notice of retirement
34. Objects
35. Secrecy
36. Object
37. Definitions
38. Approved deposit funds—payments by trustees
39. Covenants to repay amounts to beneficiaries in approved deposit funds
40. Object
41. Rights of beneficiary to rolled-over benefits
42. Object
43. Insertion of new section:
126A. Disqualified persons not to be custodians of superannuation entities
44. Object
45. Insertion of new section:
60A. Dismissal of trustee of public offer entity
46. Object
47. Duty to establish arrangements for dealing with inquiries or complaints
48. Application
PART 3—AMENDMENT OF THE SUPERANNUATION (RESOLUTION OF COMPLAINTS) ACT 1993
49. Principal Act
50. Object
51. Interpretation
TABLE OF PROVISIONS—
Section
52. Objects
53. Insertion of new section:
4A. Act applies to certain exempt public sector superannuation schemes
54. Functions
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The Parliament of Australia enacts:
5. Section 10 of the Principal Act is amended:
(a) by omitting “and” from the end of paragraph (b) of the definition of “approved deposit fund”;
(b) by omitting paragraph (c) of the definition of “approved deposit fund”;
(c) by omitting the definition of “approved rules”.
7. The objects of this Division are:(a) to allow approved guarantees to be given by approved non-bank financial institutions; and
(b) to exclude deposits with approved non-bank financial institutions from the definition of “in-house asset”.
8. Section 10 of the Principal Act is amended:
(a) by omitting the definition of “approved guarantee” and substituting the following definition:“
‘ approved guarantee’ means:(a) a guarantee given by an approved bank; or
(b) a guarantee given by an approved non-bank financial institution; or
(c) a guarantee given by or on behalf of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory;”;
(b) by inserting the following definition:“
‘ approved non-bank financial institution’ means a society, or a special services provider, within the meaning of any of the following codes:(a) the Financial Institutions (NSW) Code of New South Wales;
(b) the Financial Institutions (Victoria) Code of Victoria;
(c) the Financial Institutions (Queensland) Code of Queensland;
(d) the Financial Institutions (Western Australia) Code of Western Australia;
(e) the Financial Institutions (South Australia) Code of South Australia;
(f) the Financial Institutions (Tasmania) Code of Tasmania;
(g) the Financial Institutions (ACT) Code of the Australian Capital Territory;
(h) the Financial Institutions (NT) Code of the Northern Territory;
but does not include:
(i) a society (within the meaning of any of those codes) that is specified in the regulations; or
(j) a special services provider (within the meaning of any of those codes) that is specified in the regulations;”.
“(ba) a deposit with an approved non-bank financial institution; or”.
11. Section 10 of the Principal Act is amended:
(a) by omitting “the purposes of” from the definition of “approved purposes”;
(b) by inserting “the purpose of” before “receiving” in paragraph (a) of the definition of “approved purposes”;
(c) by inserting “the purpose of” before “dealing” in paragraph (b) of the definition of “approved purposes”;
(d) by adding at the end of the definition of “approved purposes” the following word and paragraph:“and (d) such other purposes (if any) as the Commissioner approves in writing;”.
13. Section 10 of the Principal Act is amended:
(a) by inserting “covered by paragraph (a) of the definition of ‘superannuation fund’,” before “other than” in the definition of “private sector fund”;
(b) by omitting from the definition of “public sector fund” all the words after “superannuation fund” and substituting the following words and paragraphs:“that is:
(a) covered by paragraph (a) of the definition of ‘superannuation fund’; and
(b) part of a public sector superannuation scheme;”.
15. Section 10 of the Principal Act is amended:
(a) by omitting “18(5) or (6)” from paragraph (a) of the definition of “reviewable decision” and substituting “18(6) or (7)”;
(b) by omitting “18(9)” from paragraph (b) of the definition of “reviewable decision” and substituting “18(10)”.
(a) an application for the issue of a superannuation interest in a public offer entity;
(b) an application to become a standard employer-sponsor of a public offer entity.
18. Section 153 of the Principal Act is amended:
(a) by inserting in subsections (1) and (2) “eligible” before “application”;
(b) by adding at the end the following subsections:“(3) For the purposes of this section, an application is an
eligible application if:(a) the application was made in writing on a form made available by or on behalf of the trustee; and
(b) the form is in accordance with the requirements (if any) specified in a determination made under subsection (4); and
(c) when the applicant received the form, the applicant also received such additional information (if any) and such additional documents (if any) as are required by a determination made under subsection (4).
“(4) The Commissioner may make a written determination for the purposes of subsection (3).
“(5) An instrument under subsection (4) is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the
Acts Interpretation Act 1901. ”.
“(1) The trustee or investment manager of a superannuation entity must not invest money of the entity unless:
(a) the trustee or investment manager, as the case may be, and the other party to the relevant transaction are dealing with each other at arm’s length in respect of the transaction; or
(b) both:
(i) the trustee or investment manager, as the case may be, and the other party to the relevant transaction are not dealing with each other at arm’s length in respect of the transaction; and
(ii) the terms and conditions of the transaction are no more favourable to the other party than those which it is reasonable to expect would apply if the trustee or investment manager, as the case may be, were dealing with the other party at arm’s length in the same circumstances.”.
“(b) the amount concerned is less than the minimum amount ascertained in accordance with the regulations;”.
“(3) If the governing rules of a superannuation entity are inconsistent with subsection (1), that subsection prevails, and the governing rules are, to the extent of the inconsistency, invalid.”.
“(2) If the governing rules of a superannuation entity are inconsistent with subsection (1), that subsection prevails, and the governing rules are, to the extent of the inconsistency, invalid.”.
27. Section 66 of the Principal Act is amended:
(a) by inserting in paragraph (2)(a) “exempt” before “business real property”;
(b) by omitting “the person’s business” from the definition of “business real property” in subsection (5) and substituting “a business carried on by the person”;
(c) by inserting in subsection (5) the following definition:“
‘ exempt business real property’ ,in relation to a person, means:(a) if the person carries on a single business—the business real property of the person; or
(b) if the person carries on 2 or more businesses—so much of the business real property of the person as is used wholly and exclusively in whichever of those businesses is the principal business carried on by the person;”.
“(a) either:
(i) the trustee of the fund must be an independent trustee; or
(ii) the fund must comply with the basic equal representation rules; and”.
“(a) either:
(i) the trustee of the fund must be an independent trustee; or
(ii) the fund must comply with the basic equal representation rules; and”.
“(a) either:
(i) the trustee of the fund must be an independent trustee; or
(ii) the fund must comply with the basic equal representation rules; and”.
“(2A) The provisions of the governing rules of the fund or trust concerned have no effect to the extent to which they require the holding of a meeting of beneficiaries before the existing trustee may give a notice.”.
34. The objects of this Division are:(a) to authorise the disclosure of information to the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal; and
(b) to allow the Minister to authorise the public disclosure of information collected under the Principal Act; and
(c) to limit the circumstances in which personal information may be disclosed.
35. Section 346 of the Principal Act is amended:
(a) by inserting after paragraph (6)(c) the following paragraph:“(ca) the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal for the purposes of the performance of any of its functions or the exercise of any of its powers; or”;
(b) by adding at the end of subsection (6) the following word and paragraph:“; or (f) if the Minister states in writing that, in his or her opinion, it is in the public interest that the information be disclosed or the document be produced to members of the public—a member of the public.”;
(c) by inserting after subsection (6) the following subsection:
Limitation on disclosure of personal information “(6A) Paragraphs (6)(e) and (f) do not authorise the disclosure of information, or the production of a document, relating to the personal affairs of an individual if the disclosure or production, as the case requires, would be unreasonable in the circumstances.”.
“(c) subject to any inconsistent requirement in the standards from time to time applicable to the fund under section 32, the purpose of paying to beneficiaries, or to the legal personal representatives of beneficiaries, upon request, amounts equal to the beneficiary’s interest in the fund;”.
38. Section 15 of the Principal Act is amended:
(a) by inserting in subsection (1) “and for the purposes of section 53” after “section 10”;
(b) by omitting paragraph (1)(a) and substituting the following paragraph:“(a) a beneficiary has an interest in a fund; and”;
(c) by omitting from paragraph (1)(b) “a beneficiary, the amount” and substituting “the beneficiary, an amount equal to the beneficiary’s interest”;
(d) by omitting from subsection (1) “amount is taken to be a repayment by the fund of the amount concerned” and substituting “trustee of the fund is taken to have paid the amount”;
(e) by inserting after subsection (1) the following subsections:“(1A) For the purposes of paragraph (c) of the definition of ‘approved purposes’ in section 10 and for the purposes of section 53, if:
(a) a beneficiary has an interest in a fund; and
(b) on the request of the beneficiary, an amount equal to the beneficiary’s interest is paid by the fund to:
(i) an approved deposit fund; or
(ii) a regulated superannuation fund;
the trustee of the first-mentioned fund is taken to have paid the amount to the beneficiary on request.
“(1B) For the purposes of paragraph (c) of the definition of ‘approved purposes’ in section 10, if a payment is not made immediately on request but is deferred for a period determined by the trustee concerned, the payment is taken to have been made on request.”;
(f) by inserting in subsection (2) “or (1A)” after “(1)”.
39 . Section 53 of the Principal Act is amended:
(a) by omitting paragraph (2)(a) and substituting the following paragraph:“(a) that, if:
(i) a beneficiary, by written notice given to the trustee, requests the trustee to pay to the beneficiary an amount equal to the beneficiary’s interest in the fund; and
(ii) compliance by the trustee with the request would not be inconsistent with the standards applicable to the fund under section 32;
the trustee will pay that amount within a period (not being more than 12 months) determined by the trustee; and”;
(b) by inserting after subsection (2) the following subsection:
Legal personal representatives of beneficiaries “(2A) A reference in subsection (2) to a beneficiary includes a reference to the legal personal representative of a beneficiary.
Note: Section 15 sets out additional rules relating to the interpretation of subsection (2).”.
“(2) For the purposes of this section, a mere contingent right to a death or disability benefit is taken not to be a right in respect of the first-mentioned benefits.
“(3) Subsection (2) is enacted for the avoidance of doubt.”.
“126A.(1) A person must not intentionally be, or act as, a custodian of a superannuation entity (other than an excluded fund) if the person is, and knows that the person is, a disqualified person.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years.
“(2) Subsection (1) does not prohibit a person from being or acting as a custodian of a superannuation entity if:
(a) the person immediately tells the trustee of the entity and the Commissioner in writing that the person is, or has become, a disqualified person; and
(b) the person is, or is acting as, the custodian of the entity during:
(i) the 28-day period beginning at whichever is the later of the following times:
(A) the time when the person became a disqualified person;
(B) the beginning of the entity’s 1994-95 year of income; or
(ii) such longer period as the Commissioner allows; and
(c) the trustee of the entity has made, or proposes to make, arrangements for the orderly dismissal of the person as the custodian; and
(d) the person is taking, or is willing to take, all reasonable steps to assist the trustee in carrying out those arrangements.
“(3) A body corporate that is a custodian of a superannuation entity must not permit a disqualified person to be, or act as, a responsible officer of the body corporate if the body corporate knows, or has reasonable grounds to suspect, that the person is a disqualified person.
Penalty: 600 penalty units.
“(4) If a custodian of a superannuation entity is or becomes a disqualified person:
(a) the custodian must immediately tell the trustee of the entity and the Commissioner in writing; and
(b) the trustee must make arrangements for the orderly dismissal of the custodian; and
(c) the trustee must make those arrangements before the end of:
(i) the 28-day period beginning at whichever is the later of the following times:
(A) the time when the custodian became a disqualified person;
(B) the beginning of the entity’s 1994-95 year of income; or
(ii) such longer period as the Commissioner allows.
“(5) A person who contravenes subsection (4) because of paragraph (a) of that subsection is guilty of an offence punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding 50 penalty units.
“(6) A person who contravenes subsection (4) because of paragraph (b) or (c) of that subsection is guilty of an offence punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding 100 penalty units.”.
“60A.(1) Subject to subsection (2), the governing rules of a public offer entity must not permit the trustee to be removed by a person other than the Commissioner.
Note: Part 17 provides for the removal of trustees by the Commissioner.
“(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a removal of a kind specified in regulations made for the purposes of this subsection.
“(3) If the governing rules of the public offer entity are inconsistent with subsection (1), that subsection prevails, and the governing rules are, to the extent of the inconsistency, invalid.”.
“(3) In this section:
52. The objects of this Division are:(a) to enable regulations to be made subjecting exempt public sector superannuation schemes to the Principal Act; and
(b) to allow the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal to perform functions conferred on it by a law of a State or Territory, where the functions relate to exempt public sector superannuation schemes.
53. After section 4 of the Principal Act the following section is inserted:
“4A. The regulations may provide that a specified exempt public sector superannuation scheme is taken to be a regulated superannuation fund for the purposes of this Act. The scheme must be:
(a) a superannuation fund that complies with subsections 19(2) and (3) of the Supervision Act; or
(b) a scheme established:
(i) by or under a law of the Commonwealth; or
(ii) under the authority of the Commonwealth.”.
“(2) In addition to the functions conferred on the Tribunal by a law of the Commonwealth, the Tribunal may perform functions conferred on the Tribunal by a law of a State or Territory, where:
(a) the functions relate to one or more exempt public sector superannuation schemes; and
(b) the schemes are not specified in regulations made for the purposes of section 4A.”.
1. No. 78, 1993, as amended. For further amendments, see No. 118, 1993.
2. No. 80, 1993.
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Senate on 5 May 1994
House of Representatives on 20 October 1994
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